A cervical injury, such as a fracture to the upper cervical spine, requires immobilization of the head, neck and sternum so that the upper cervical spine does not move. There is a need for an orthosis that immobilizes the head and neck of the patient, particularly when the patient is lying in a hospital bed. There is also a need to ensure that adjustments can be made to immobilize the patient's head in a desired position. In the past, braces used for immobilizing spinal fractures have not provided a truly effective means of preventing rotation of the patient's head or providing adjustments to the position in which the head is immobilized. My U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,913 discloses a cervical thoracic orthosis for maintaining the patient's upper cervical spine immobilized, for preventing undesired rotation of the patient's head, while also securely yet comfortably maintaining the patient's head in a desired angular position during immobilization. However, immobilization of the patient's head, neck and jaw regions is not completely effective inasmuch as some movements are still possible. In addition, it has been discovered that a continuous rigid support to the patient's chin can produce injury to the chin bone, and that added padding does not help and, in fact, makes the problem worse. Further, prior art cervical thoracic orthoses are not known to provide good immobilization for the patient's head if there is a need to temporarily remove the chin support while the patient is eating, for example.
The present invention provides a cervical thoracic orthosis which improves upon maintaining the patient's upper cervical spine completely immobilized while preventing undesired rotation of the patient's head. The invention also provides a chin support which prevents undue pressure on the patient's chin bone and at the same time allows for a temporary release of the chin support to facilitate sufficient jaw movement during eating while still maintaining immobilization of the patient's head.